Factors Impacting Your Commercial Vehicle Branding Cost: Services and Customisation Options Compared

The WrapUK team is regularly asked about vehicle wrapping prices, and it’s tricky to give an exact answer because there are numerous variables that go into every project and every quotation. 

For example, a small decal for the front of a company car will require significantly less time and vinyl than a full truck wrap – and although this is an obvious example, it’s important to have clarity about the factors that impact pricing to ensure your vehicle branding cost fits your budget.

We’ve put together a list of the aspects of your vehicle wrapping project we’ll need to know before we can provide an accurate quotation and shared some insights into the options that may help keep your fleet wraps or graphics as cost-efficient as possible.

1. The Type of Vehicle Wrap or Decal You Choose

The first thing to consider is the nature of the vehicle graphics you’d like, because there are several ways to customise your company van or fleet, and this will directly affect the vehicle branding cost. While not exhaustive, the main options include:

• Full wraps: A type of wrap that covers all of the surfaces of your car or lorry. A full wrap is the most expensive option but maximises visibility and creates a bold statement that will attract more attention than subtler alternatives.
• Partial wraps: As the name suggests, a partial wrap covers specific sections of the vehicle, and you can choose how many aspects that might be. Brands often use partial wraps in strategic placements like the sides of a van or across the rear doors since these provide better exposure to other motorists on the road.
• Decals: If you’re less interested in large areas of wrap coverage, you can opt for simpler decals, which can showcase your logo, contact information, or company name, again in areas where the decal is most likely to be seen.

If you’re new to vinyl graphics, we’d recommend having a look at the examples published via our web pages. This will give you a better idea about how each of these options looks, to enable you to decide whether you’d prefer a higher vehicle branding cost for a full or partial wrap or would be more comfortable with a smaller logo placement.

2. The Size and Number of Company Vehicles You Want to Customise

Practicalities like the dimensions of your vehicles and the number of vehicles you need to wrap will, of course, affect vehicle wrapping prices, primarily because we need to use more vinyl and other materials to achieve the necessary coverage.

That said, there are economies of scale, because wrapping several vehicles at once and replicating a consistent vinyl design across a whole fleet is considerably more cost-effective than customising each lorry or van one at a time.

Likewise, although it’ll cost more to wrap a large van, you can also go for either partial rather than full wraps, or a straightforward design to keep the costs down. As we’ll discuss shortly, a very complex customisation project will be more expensive even on a smaller vehicle, and any specialist finishes can add to the price – although, in some cases, these can be worthwhile if you want a protective coat to ensure your wraps last for longer.

3. The Complexity of Your Commercial Vehicle Branding

It’s easy to get excited during the design phase and incorporate bold, striking visuals, photo-quality graphics in a high-resolution format, and stylised versions of the brand’s typeface to ensure your fleet is unmissable – but that can both make wraps harder to read and add to your costs. Here’s why:

• Elaborate and very complex graphics mean our designers need to spend additional time creating and polishing your graphics, ready to print.
• Planning a wrap installation with intricate design elements requires greater fitting time, as we need to carefully adjust every aspect of the design to ensure the focal points fit perfectly around your vehicle’s panels, wing mirrors and bumpers.
• Using a broad range of colours, or special effect vinyls such as fluorescent, high-shine or neon colours means we’ll need to use advanced and special effect vinyls, which naturally cost more.

Brands that want to customise their company vehicles on a budget are well advised to have a chat with our design teams, who can offer invaluable insights into how to achieve a stunning visual impact, without overspending.

4. The Type or Brand of Vinyl Used to Wrap Your Vehicle

We design, produce and install a huge variety of vinyl wraps and decals, and can recommend both cheap materials, ideal for temporary wraps promoting an event or sale, and exceptional quality vinyls from the best brands in the world.

Standard vinyls have better longevity than those designed for temporary wrapping. In contrast, premium vinyls are more durable and have better resistance to wear and damage from stone chips and oil on the road.

That can mean that firms with delivery vehicles that spend hours a week travelling on motorways and busy A roads require a better quality vinyl, because this ensures they won’t find themselves having to replace wraps after a short period when their decals start to fade, peel or show signs of damage.

5. The Professional Experience of Your Wrap Installation Team

Finally, the skill and precision of your chosen supplier will affect the price but also influence the aesthetic you achieve and how long the wrap will last. Professional installation is strongly advisable, using specialist equipment to design and fit wraps that look the part.

We don’t recommend DIY wrap installations, especially for commercial cars that represent your brand, or low-quality wrap fitting services that might be cheaper, but inevitably mean the wrap stands a far higher chance of failing.

As always, if you’re interested in the costs of wrapping your vehicle, company cars or fleet, want independent advice about the best vinyls, designs and types of wrap for your budget, or would like a reliable quotation to compare all the options, you are welcome to get in touch with the WrapUK team at any time.